This invention relates to a bag closing and sealing machine in general and in particular to a new and novel bag closing machine for use on a stepped end adhesively sealed bag.
It is known in the prior art to provide various types of bag closing and sealing machines having the necessary feeding and creasing sections in combination with folding and heating sections and compression sections for closing and sealing a stepped end adhesively sealed bag known in the art as a pinch style bag. Bags of this type are typified by the multi-wall bags containing charcoal, ice and other heavy materials which may be purchased at various retail and commercial outlets throughout the country.
A typical bag closing and sealing machine for stepped end bags is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,381,448, issued on May 7, 1968, to R. H. Ayres et al. This patent teaches an in-line elongated machine having the before-mentioned sections fixedly attached to a machine frame for the ultimate purpose of closing and sealing the pinch style bags.
This type machine, while successful in the market place, has had problems with jams occurring in the machine due to tracking problems of the various compression belts and due to the uncontrollable nature of folding of paper under high-speed bag operations. Due to these particular problems, jam-ups can occur in the machine shown in the patent and the removal of jammed bags requires a partial dismantling of portions of the machine to free the jammed bags. This condition may take as long as one to one-and-a-half hours depending upon the total complexity of the jammed condition and where it lies within the various sections of the machine.
Since paper bags will at times refuse to fold in the predetermined manner precisely as designed by the machines, it can be seen by referring to the figures of the drawings in the Ayres et al patent, how a jam in the various sections could result in a lengthy amount of down time to release the jam since the easy removal of a jammed bag has not been taken into consideration in design of the Ayres machine.